A pilot attempting to land an aircraft during flight is presented with several challenges to perform a safe landing maneuver. During a landing maneuver, the aircraft must properly approach an airport runway along a glideslope, touchdown aligned with the runway and slow to a stop or an appropriate ground speed within the runway distance remaining after touchdown. While there have been significant advances in aircraft navigation and landing guidance and control systems, if the pilot of an aircraft attempts to land from a non-optimal height or speed, the runway distance may be insufficient to provide the required landing distance for the aircraft.
In addition to aircraft speed and altitude, additional factors are commonly evaluated by the pilot during the approach and landing process. These factors may include aircraft operation (e.g., malfunctions), excessive wind conditions or contaminated runway conditions. If the pilot does not accurately estimate the energy of the aircraft and remaining length of the runway, a runway overrun is possible.
Pilots are trained to monitor these conditions during the approach, and to initiate a go-around maneuver if necessary. However, the decision to execute a go-around maneuver is left to the discretion of the pilot. Accordingly, the effectiveness of a pilot in safely landing the aircraft depends on the experience and judgment of the pilot. Accordingly, pilots with varying levels of experience and training may respond differently to the same situation, and some pilot responses may result in a less than optimal landing.
Accordingly, it is desirable to assist a pilot during the approach and landing phase of flight. It is further desirable that the assistance be as objective as possible and not dependent upon pilot skill or judgment. Other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.